High Five Friday for Heros

Hero's cross our path every day and if you are lucky enough you get to actually meet one of them. If you are extra lucky you get to spend an enjoyable long lunch visiting and sharing stories.  This week I had the distinct privilege of such a lunch.  William Mullan of Scotland, Grandfather to one of our graduating students, came across the pond to be here for his Grandson, his pal, and partake in the commencement celebration.

Not only is William the quintessential Scottish Grandfather he was a Football referee for some very famous games.  One being the 1972 Summer Olympics and the match between East Germany and West Germany, which just happened to be the first time that the two countries meet on the field in a competition.  There were 80,000 spectators in attendance at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, which filled the stadium to max capacity and when all eyes were not on the players they were on the referee and watching each call very closely. 

William is a hero more so in my eyes for the skills he passed along to young people as their physical education instructor and later their Math instructor. And for sharing with me the joys of his life and a few of the tough times also.  He is a gentle reminder to me that each and every one of us has the ability to be a hero.

Hero's really are just average people doing extraordinary things once in a while and being an example to those around them every day. 

High five Friday for Bill ~ hero and our new friend!  We look forward to our continued friendship and hope to see him again soon.
 
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Graduation Day!

Congratulations to a sweet and talented young lady!  It was a pleasure to be in attendance at your high school graduation!  

That tall fella is our youngest son and the young lady is his girlfriend.

He is very kind and does so much for the young lady.

Life and the open doors before you ~ live well each and every day!

Something New

Have you ever tried something new?  Of course you have, me too but when it comes to baking well I have always stayed with the tried and true.  Yesterday I made a HUGE exception.  On Mother's Day no less~ it was fancy cake baking time. Silver White Cake with White Mountain Frosting and Rich Lemon Filling from my Grandmothers cookbook.  Go Betty Crocker!

First the cake ~ fairly easy and not unlike muffins.  I must admit that I have not in my adult life, that I can remember, made a cake from scratch.  As a child baking with my Grandmother sure but as an adult not so much.  Raising two hungry growing boys the Betty Crocker in a box was the cake of choice for me, quick and easy.

The filling was a bit more complicated and took plenty of concentration. But the end result was a tasty tart lemon filling ~  wonderful taste of success!

White Mountain Frosting ~ here is where things got complicated ~ but I was thinking to myself ~ what could go wrong it's just melted boiled sugar ~ right?  First off I do not have a candy thermometer so I thought that it would be all right to use any~old kitchen thermometer but it was too large and I could not get an accurate reading. By this time in the day we were about ready to put the salmon (you can see a bit of it to the right) on the grill so the rush factor started to set in and that is never a good thing.

While you are boiling down the sugar you are supposed to beat the egg whites until they form peaks. Then when the sugar reaches 242 degrees or makes a 6-8" string (if you know what this means please comment as I am still stumped) you are to pour it into the egg whites slowly in a thin stream. All the while continuing to beat the egg whites and the whole mess is to become frosting. Well as you can see this is where the photo documentary stops. The sugar got too hot (I think) and started to form hard candy right in the pan so there was a rush to add it to the egg white. This then only caused the hot mess of boiled sugar to form lumps of candy in the egg whites and clogged the beaters.  Not a huge success.  Win some lose some.

All in all it was a great afternoon. The grilled salmon was wonderful with the rolls and sautéed green beans. The beans were still a bit “squeaky” Dad would not have like them so much but we had a warm smile over that thought and ate them till the bowl was empty.

It was a great day spent with family!
Hope you too enjoyed your Mother’s Day!

High Five Friday for Her Majesty

To: The Queen of the World
From: Ken

Subject: Your Awesomeness

Your Majesty, 

Might I take a precious moment of your time? I have something very important to tell you...You are awesome, the best at being awesome in fact! Furthermore, I appreciate you very much! You are always so supportive and kind and giving, even being willing to do such things as go to the bank or store on your one-sies (things a Queen should not have to do or deal with)...all on top of being so darn cute and likable. Well I simply must say thank you. Also, if there is anything more I can do for you, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Your humble, loyal and love you always subject,
Ken

Fixed?

We did not clean it, we did not fix it, we just re-structured it.

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Could be said at the end of a long day trying to clean the garage or about our  state of the union. Your choice!

Tip Tuesday

 Do not be afraid to say the words that you were meant to say.

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Same Person

The person you love.

The person who loves you.

The person you marry.

May they be the same person.

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Beautiful Night

Last nights snow shower was a beautiful sight.  The little chickadees were just singing away and going about their evening of gathering food, flirting with their mates and getting ready for summers splendor.  The sound of the water running off the roof is also a good sign that this winter is almost over.

There is still two to three feet of snow in the woods to melt and it should be all gone in time for Memorial Day! Hope you too are enjoying spring!

Little Pishposh

Hey little Pishposh want to come over and play? Down by the river where the big ships sway. We will sail our boats near the sandy banks and dip our toes in the ripples they make. Along the shore the water is nice this warm spring day. Hey little Pishposh do you want to come over and play?

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April Fools ~ Again

April fools joke 30 days late!

Snow this time of year is not out of the normal as life in Alaska is unpredictable at best, it is just a bit disheartening as I really could see myself standing in the warm spring sunshine.

Love at First Sight

Below from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables~

The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in.  Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other.  Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only. The rest is only the rest, and comes afterwards.

*****
Very nicely said!

Wheels on the Bus

Everyone needs a good bus driver.  Someone who knows all the perils the road has to offer up and dish out. Someone who can effortlessly round every corner and miss every pothole along the the way.

On this great day and every day may your way be guided by the best bus driver there is and may HE also guide your heart.

Amen!

Bittersweet

Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way 

by Shauna Niequist

Prologue

“What I didn’t understand until recently is that he wasn’t speaking to me as a theologian or a pastor or an expert, but rather as a person whose heart had been broken and who had been brought back to life by the story God tells in all our lives. When you haven’t yet had your heart really broken, the gospel isn’t about death and rebirth. It’s about life and more life. It’s about hope and possibility and a brighter future. And it is certainly about those things.

But when you’ve faced some kind of death – the loss of someone you loved dearly, the failure of a dream, the fracture of a relationship – that’s when you start understanding that central metaphor. When your life is easy, a lot of the really crucial parts of Christian doctrine and life are nice theories, but you don’t really need them. When however, death of any kind is staring you in the face, all of a sudden rebirth and new life are very, very important to you.”

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Sounds like an inspirational read and fitting for our lives right now. Have any of you read this book? 

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Helping Others

Helping others usually starts with all the best intentions. Sometimes we help too much as there is a fine line between helping people and helping people learn how to help themselves. Guiding someone towards the path that reminds them they have the power to help themselves will become a valuable key in their pocket and will unlock infinite doors.

Ownership in their own destiny, choosing their own goals, and finding the resource with which to make this goal a reality are the fundamental building blocks to living a happier healthier life.

So if this is true why do we continue to give handouts without the expectation that the recipient should then learn to better their own life?

There is one organization that seems to have the right idea.

*****

Medical Ambassadors International 

What We Do

Medical Ambassadors International (MAI) does not do development. Instead we teach Community Health Evangelism (CHE, pronounced chay) to local individuals, who teach their neighbors, in some of the poorest places in the world. CHE is a plan for individual and community development through physical and spiritual teaching. The people do development for themselves.

• Local people do it for themselves by:
• Choosing their own people to be in charge
• Choosing their own priorities of what to change
• Choosing their own people to be trained to teach house to house
• Finding their own resources, and
• Accomplishing their own goals when and where they choose. Local people own and manage their own plans. We just teach their teachers.

Empowering people to do things for themselves. This liberates locals from the bondage of the welfare mentality.

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So if they are using this school of thought around the world in some of the poorest regions what is keeping you and me for implementing this in our own back yard? How can we empower ourselves, our family members or our neighbors?

High Five Friday for Birch Trees

Photo taken at the Chena Flood Project

Birch trees are probably one of the best reasons to live in the interior of Alaska.  They provide green shade in the summer and golden rustling leave in the fall. In the winter they stand as tall sentinels in the woods neither light nor dark. One can easily see through them and they can simply hide you among their texture and shadows.

Simple and complex at the same time.   High five for trees of all shapes and size.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Shooting Range

There is a lot of talk these days about gun laws and our Constitutional rights. To tell a truth that we all know there has ALWAYS been a lot of talk about our unalienable rights since the Declaration of Independence and beyond and as Alaskans this right rings clear in our ears. Yet it is more than a right or a privilege, it is a necessity when you venture out of suburbia and into the bush of Alaska.

In the Alaska bush there is wild along the rivers, by the lakes and on the tundra that will eat you if you give it a chance. My family and I are not about to give it that chance and we always venture out aware of our surroundings, prepared, and are ready to defend ourselves against an angry bear or disgruntled moose. Also if there were ever a need to hunt to feed ourselves in the case of an emergency if Alaska was to be cut off from outside world I would need to be all practiced up and ready to put supper on the table.

 It was a nice afternoon at the shooting range.  Go team us!

P.S. The guys had hearing protection also just the kind that fits in the ears.

Play Time in the Snow

Okay winter we get the message you are still here with your cool temperatures, piles of snow and frozen rivers.  Which means there is still time to get out and have a bit of fun while we do a little bit of work.

 

We spent the day helping out Uncle & Aunty move rocks down river to their cabin that is on an outside curve and has been losing ground to the river for the past few years. 

It was -5 F. and when we got moving on the river it was breezy with the snow sifting around but it was oh so much fun!

Thanks Uncle & Aunty for letting us help you!  

You are always there for us so it is nice to return the favor plus the play time in the snow was good!

High Five Friday ~ for Less Photos

What you are looking at is a stack of photographs almost 14 inches tall. These photos are headed to the shredder as they are duplicates, out of focus or someone in them just does not look their best. These are all from the pre-digital age when you had to develop the film. So why did I keep them in the first place? Good question and perhaps only the shadow knows the real reason but what I can tell you is that they are out of here!

There were 16 photo albums filled with some great photos and some not so memorable shots. It took me two weeks to sort through them to cull out the bad and keep only the best photos. Now there are four photo albums that represent four great trips and one & a half boxes of photos labeled and dated.

Less is more and organization is the cat’s meow!

Happy Friday everyone!